lsn833

I agree with Chefin1950. Also, it is so much easier than making the tea! Even the author of the article states "I feel that my plants have benefited from applications of both compost and manure teas..." So, why go to the trouble of "brewing" the tea?

How many of each did you get? I planted three Lemon cucumbers in a big pot, with an upside-down tomato cage to climb. I did have to add some taller bamboo stakes also.
I got loads of cucumbers. I was just wondering how many of the longer kind you got.

Interesting to see The Grange in Central Point mentioned! My straw bales from there this year were not seed free, and everywhere I mulched with them I now have growth. This didn't happen last year. My bulb beds, my strawberries, asparagus, etc. now need weeding, which was what the straw mulch was supposed to keep down!

Don't use hay for this, use straw. I'm not going to, but I enjoyed the video! My straw bales get moldy and slimey after they are wet for awhile, so I wonder if the same would happen here, if I planted on top of them.

Do you need to fertilize? There isn't much soil for the plants, and their roots will be in straw before long, with no nutrients there. Also, you said "compost" but the photo shows potting soil. Did you use potting soil? I have great compost from our garbage co. but it says right on it not to use it alone.

I don't use our Guinea pig waste in the garden. She is getting older, and there is way too much urine in her bedding! Plus, with a rabbit the poop falls through, but a GP should not be kept in a cage with an open mesh bottom, so their poop would be mixed with whatever bedding you use. More bedding than poop in ours. We use the paper bedding.

I also don't use our rat's bedding. Smelly. They are not strictly vegetarians.

My Yellow Brandywine tomato did the best of anything this year! It was my first time trying it, but now I will plant it every year. The tomatoes where huge, and strangely shaped, but juicy and delicious. The plant wanted to keep going and going, but I had to take it out for fall crops. It got over 6' tall and was quite a challenge to control. It was planted in a raised bed.

I was also pleased with my Ace tomato. It was planted in a fairly small pot, and produced very well.

Lemon cucumbers did very well too. 3 were in a large planter, with an upside down tomato cage to climb, but I had to add some bamboo since they grew taller than the cage legs. Others were in a raised bed. The container ones did best. They did well on their own, but I also would tear off male blossoms and pollinate the females, just in case!

The tomatoes and the cucumbers were bought as transplants. I don't do well growing from seed.

You can save a few dollars by skipping the caps. The holes make great planting areas for lots of things! I grew a bush bean in each hole, lettuces, nasturtiums, a large marigold, parsley, mint. That saves quite a lot of money off the soil cost too.
Also, few vegetable are deep rooted enough to need 3 blocks depth. 2 are enough for even tomatoes.
You can often find them used on Craigslist (I got 100 big ones with one nice side for 50 cents each (I just had to haul them up a hill!), or builder's supply stores have seconds that work just as well.